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THE DICTUM OF REASON 

ON 

MAN'S IMMORTALITY 

OR 

DIVINE VOICES 
OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE. 



BOOKS BY 

REV. DAVID GREGG 

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THE 
DICTUM of REASON 

ON 

MAN'S IMMORTALITY 

I 

OR 

DIVINE VOICES 

OUTSIDE of the BIBLE 



By REV. DAVID GREGG, D.D. 

Pastor of 

Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Author of " Our Best Moods" "Testimony of the Land 

to the Book," ''Facts that Call for Faith," "Makers 

of the American Republic" "New Epistles from 

Old Lands" etc. 



New York 

E. B. Treat & Company 

24J-243 West 23d Street* 
1902. 



|the library Oh 

CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JUN. 12 1902 

CoFVftKJHT ENTWY 

|fcl.ASS*-XXo. NO. 

f <?<&?<> 

I COPY B. 



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Copyright 

By E. B. TREAT & COMPANY 

1902 



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CONTENTS 
i. 

Page. 
The Dictum of Reason on Man's Immortality.. 9-40 

II. 
Divine Voices Outside of the Bible 43-72 



I 

THE DICTUM OF REASON 

ON 

MAN'S IMMORTALITY. 



SYLLABUS. 



The right of Reason to be heard on Man's Im- 
mortality, and on all subjects pertaining to our Re- 
ligion ; and the influence which Reason, unaided by 
Revelation, has had in making Grand Men and in con- 
trolling Nations and Civilizations by teaching the Fact 
of Man's Immortality. 



I. 



THE DICTUM OF REASON ON MAN'S IMMOR- 
TALITY. 

fN dealing with the subject of Man's Im- 
mortality, we usually put oureslevs under 
the Dictum of the Inspired Book. This 
is a good thing to do. This is a reasonable 
thing to do. For here in the Inspired book we 
have Man's Immortality as we have it nowhere 
else. It is here as an emphatic assertion. It is 
here as a glorious vision. It is here as a con- 
clusive argument. It is here as a revelation 
from God. It is here as a shining fact. It is 
here as a powerful influence. It is here as a 
tangible embodiment in the grand personality 
of the Risen and Ascended Master. Accord- 
ing to the Dictum of the great Book of oui 
holy religion, Man's Immortality is set forth as 

a fact which is clear and full and emphatic. 
9 



10 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

While this is the case, and while we rejoice 
in the Dictum of the Book: the question be- 
fore us now is, — "Is this the only dictum on 
this all important subject ?" If the Book 
were taken away from us would we have 
absolutely nothing upon which to build our 
faith in Man's Immortality? Is there no other 
Dictum? I answer: There is another Dic- 
tum — the Dictum of Reason — and it is a dic- 
tum that is worth hearing. 

My fellowmen, we do not under-write the 
Book by listening to Reason. Nay, we con- 
firm the Book. The Bible is stronger because 
Reason confirms it. For example, when 
Reason finds the Fourth Commandment, 
which is the law of the Sabbath, in my physi- 
cal system, in every bone and socket and nerve 
and atom of my body, — built in there by the 
Creator, — the Fourth Commandment written 
in the Book becomes tenfold more of a com- 
mandment to me. When Reason discovers 
and demonstrates that the principles of the 
Bible and the needs of man's nature fit like 
lock and key: then the Bible is accepted by 






ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 11 

man, and is believed, and is lived by. Let us 
not forget that man himself is a book of God, 
and that all the writings in this book are 
divine and true. 

We are so made that, when we are normal, 
our Reason rules us : hence, so far as we are 
concerned, the Bible needs the endorsement of 
our reason before it can become a practical 
force. A Bible contrary to reason would be a 
rejected Book in the human world. 

The Dictum of Reason : That is one of the 
greatest powers known to humanity. Let no 
man despise Reason, for God does not. When 
he would win the faith of man, he appeals to 
it. "Come and let us reason together saith the 
Lord." When reason speaks without bias, 
and according to the facts which it cognizes 
and collates, its deductions are none other 
than the voice of God, from which there is no 
appeal. As men, we were created in the image 
of God; and in nothing do we see more of 
God's image than in that faculty which we call 
reason. 

If this be true, we should look for the God- 



12 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

element which is within us, and we should 
deal with that. We should expect revelations 
in and through that. When these revelations 
come, we should accept of them, and believe 
in them, and trust them, and live in accordance 
with them. We live below ourselves when we 
despise or neglect that which is within us, and 
which is so noble that it can be called the 
"image of God." Faculties that are the image 
of God are next to God Himself. Let 
us not under-write ourselves. Let us ever 
remember our origin. "God said 'Let us 
make man in our own image," and this is what 
God did. This image in us may be somewhat 
indistinct: it may be wrapped up under folds 
of carnality, but still it is there. This is the 
hope of religion. Religion has something 
within us to take hold of, and to work upon. 
It can make something out of us, because there 
is that in us out of which to make something. 
The image of God is in us. 

"In the apse of the Mosque of St. Sophia, 
Constantinople, the guide points to a place 
where is hidden the face of Christ portrayed 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 13 

by some early Christian artist. When the 
Mohammedan conqueror possessed himself of 
that noble Christian temple, he ordered all 
Christian symbols to be effaced. This beauti- 
ful head of Christ, however, escaped; for it 
was covered over with canvas. By gazing 
steadily at the canvas, the visitor can assure 
himself that there is a sacred painting behind 
it. Perhaps the colors have stained the threads 
of the canvas faintly, or it may be that the 
single threads have so separated as to give 
pin-point views of the picture, through the in- 
terstices. But there it is. When the Christ- 
ian conqueror again enters the gates of Con- 
stantinople, the canvas which covers it will be 
torn off, and this bit of early Christian art 
will be brought to light and fully restored/* 
Even so, like this valued picture, the image of 
God is within us covered up. We can uncover 
it: we can give it new life and visibility: and 
we can set it to work to accomplish its mis- 
sion. I tell you my fellowmen, God laid a 
foundation for all true knowledge upon our 
part, when he made man in his own image. 



14 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

But it is with only one faculty, which goes 
to make up the image of God, that we have to 
deal at this time : — the faculty of reason. We 
want to say this concerning this faculty: — It 
is no part of religion to disparage it; or to 
thwart it; or to mortify it, or to humiliate it. 
It is the mission of religion to illuminate it: 
to help it and get help from it: and to give it 
a new play and power in life. It is divine in 
its original qualities, and it has been assigned 
by the Creator to the headship over human life. 

Since this is so : I say give Reason full 
play inside the lids of the Bible, and give it 
full play outside the lids of the Bible; that is 
if you want to be mentally and spiritually en- 
riched, and if you want a grand and a reason- 
able faith, — a faith that makes for a Godlike 
life. 

Reason can do much outside of the lids of 
the Book. It has done much. It has dealt 
with Man's Immortality and discovered it, 
and made it a power. The great facts of out 
religion existed before our Bible came into 
being. The Bible does not make these facts; 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 15 

these facts make the Bible. It is as Bascom 
says, viz: "The foundations of a faith in a future 
life lie outside of Revelation, and ought there- 
fore to be disclosed independently of it. . . .It 
is immortality that gives the promise of Reve- 
lation, and not Revelation which lays the foun- 
dations of immortality/' Immortality is in our 
very constitution. But does not Revelation do 
something? It does much. Revelation points 
it out and calls attention to it. There is cer- 
tainly a value in the Christ of Revelation. He 
redeems immortality from the false and the 
trivial. He fills it up with grand things. He 
transfigures it. He makes it a thing of tran- 
scendent glory. He puts the Divine Father, 
and fellowship with the redeemed, into its 
eternity. He makes heaven out of it. Now all 
these things are an incalculable good. 

But what does Reason do here? That is 
the question. What does it do for Man's Im- 
mortality outside of the Book? It does much. 
It asks leading questions : and draws conclu- 
sive deductions : and sees confirming analo- 
gies. It yearns: it aspires: it protests: it 



16 TEE DICTUM OF REASON 

dreams dreams : it builds arguments : it creates 
a literature: it formulates a creed: it dictates 
a life : and all of these things it does in order 
to demonstrate and make serviceable Man's 
Immortality. On this subject you see there 
is a Book of Reason, as well as a Book of 
Revelation, and it also is a Book of God. 

Thus it appears that we have different 
sources and different authorities for the great 
and dominant facts pertaining to our being and 
well-being, — I mean facts which become foun- 
dations upon which we can build our faith and 
construct our lives. These facts all contribute 
to and confirm and harmonize with the facts 
of the Bible, the revealed will of God. The 
Bible is better because of these. They make 
it stronger. They establish it. They demon- 
strate that its teachings are in accordance ''with 
the fitness of things : i.e., the nature of things." 
Now demonstrate the fitness of things and the 
nature of things in reference to any theoiy 
or doctrine or practice, and you carry with you 
the verdict of mankind in favor of these. The 
fitness of things ! That is a finality with the 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 17 

human mind. It is equal in value to an axiom. 
The poet Browning illustrates what I wish to 
present. He is the deep thinker among the 
poets. In his teaching he presents three 
sources of divine knowledge and authority in 
dealing with ourselves and with truth and with 
duty and with religion : and he tells us that he 
himself uses all of them. His words which are 
auto-biographical show us how rich we are in 
divine sources of knowledge. He writes : 

"I trust in Nature for the stable laws 
Of beauty and utility; 
Spring shall plant and summer garner 
To the end of time. 

I trust in God. The right shall be the right 
And other than the wrong while He endures. 
I trust in my own soul, that can receive 
The outward and the inward, Nature's good 
and God." 

In these far-reaching words of his, Brown- 
ing declares that there are three ultimate and 
unmistakable certainties: — Nature: God: and 



18 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

our own soul. With these certainties all wise 
men deal; and from them learn and come to 
conclusions ; and these conclusions are legiti- 
mate, and safe, and logical, and authoritative, 
and satisfactory, and final. I might add : these 
conclusions are Bilblical : for this is the great 
characteristic of the Bible : — it is one with 
Nature, and with God, and with the soul of 
man. 

But I have said enough by way of vindicat- 
ing the right of Reason to deal with the things 
pertaining to religion, and especially to deal 
with that doctrine which pertains to the im- 
mortality of the soul. It is in point now for 
the sake of further thought to ask these two 
questions : 

i. Has Reason spoken on Man's Immor- 
tality? 2. If so, what influence has its Dictum 
had in the world? i. e., with what results has 
it spoken? 

In answer to the first question I reply: 

It has spoken, and it has spoken early : and 
it has spoken affirmatively. 

This is the fact to grasp just here: — The 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 19 

Dictum of Reason is the first and the oldest 
Dictum upon this subject. 

Reason precedes the Bible in speaking on 
Man's Immortality. It spake before the Bible 
was written : — before Abraham, before Job, 
before Moses, before Isaiah, and before Christ. 
For example, we have Man's Immortality in 
the old hymns dug up by the spade of the ex- 
plorer out of the ruins of Ur of the Chaldees. 
This was Abraham's native place : and these 
hymns were written before he left Ur. These 
hymns were old in Abraham's day. So away 
back there Reason had discovered immortality 
and had formulated it into a thing of worship. 
Back there it had discovered possibilities, and 
probabilities, and intimations, and presump- 
tions looking immortality-ward, and out of 
these it had built a creed. Do not exclaim in 
tones of surprise — Possibilities ! Probabilities ! 
Intimations ! Presumptions ! Do not ask con-* 
temptuously: — Are these all? There is no 
ground for surprise or contempt here. I wish 
to say this, and I wish you to consider what I 
say: — Most of our soundest convictions are 



20 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

based upon aggregated possibilities, and prob- 
abilities, and intimations, and presumptions, 
and upon nothing else. Out of these, in every 
department of life, we construct what we call 
our certainties : and upon these we base our 
faith in things to come and act accordingly. To 
illustrate — There are a thousand probabilities 
that the sun will rise to-morrow, and because 
of these thousand probabilities, looking toward 
this sunrise, we write the sunrise of to-morrow 
down as a certainty and make our plans ac- 
cordingly. But the sunrise of to-morrow will 
not be a certainty until it has actually occurred. 
Possibilities, probabilities, intimations, pre- 
sumptions, these are strong things ; and Rea- 
son does well to work the grand creed of Man's 
Immortality out of them. 

The fact is this: The doctrine of Man's Im- 
mortality is the most ancient doctrine of which 
we have any knowledge. We know no age 
of man when it has not been a creed. Seeing 
that the doctrine is as old as history itself, see- 
ing that it is the concensus of mankind, Reason 
concludes that immortality is not an invention 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 21 

of man, but an original enduement, — an in- 
tegral part of man. The doctrine that death 
ends all ! That is the invention : and not the 
doctrine of immortality. Reason concludes 
that the conception of immortality originated 
in the fact, and is a proof of the fact. 

The Bible finds the faith in immortality in 
the world. It only regulates that faith, and 
cleanses it, and corrects it, and transfigures it, 
and makes it worthy of the Creator, and con- 
verts it into a motive power which enlarges 
both man and man's life. 

Now that Reason has spoken: our Second 
question is : 

What influence has the Dictum of Reason 
had in the world? With what results has it 
spoken ? 

The answer to this question is this : — 

The Dictum of Reason has told in three 
ways. 

i. It has made the Immortality of man the 
active faith of whole races and nations. 

2. It has put it into the Master-minds of all 
ages as a vital principle. 



22 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

3. It has created the finest literature of the 
world. 

The simple statement of these three points 
carries conviction, for they are so clear. They 
are all plain facts of plain history. 

(1). You know the races and nations which 
have held the doctrine of immortality! 

They have been the leading nations of an- 
tiquity. They have been the nations which 
have given the world its highest civilization. 
Rome, Greece, Egypt, — these are their names. 
In all of these faith in immortality was uni- 
versal, and it governed man's dealings with 
man, and man's estimate of man. 

Let us single out one of these nations for 
the sake of demonstration. Let us single out 
Egypt! Egypt was the cradle of the world's 
learning and civilization. It was the world's 
early school of the arts and sciences. It was 
the primitive home of mentality, and of deep 
and thorough thoughtfulness. It was the first 
leader of the world. It stood for all around 
power. 

Now, what find we in Egypt ? We find the 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 23 

constructive power of the faith in man's im- 
mortality. One of the greatest of the Egyptian 
arts was the art of embalming : this faith orig- 
inated that. The Egyptians wrote that great 
work called "The Book of the Dead:" this 
faith produced that. It filled it with its prayers 
and hymns and teachings. The Egyptians 
built the great Pyramids, the most astonishing 
•structures on the earth. What presided as the 
ruling genius at the erection of these vast 
structures of stone? The doctrine of man's 
immortality. These are Egypt's monuments 
to the dead. They are forever-structures 
erected to the memory of forever-creatures. 

The Egyptian Pyramid was built as the 
tomb of man, in the same spirit that a certain 
prince of India built a receptacle to preserve 
one of the bones of the founder of Buddhism. 
The story of this building is this : — 
Fifteen centuries ago Asoka dug up the 
body of the founder of Buddhism and sent 
morsels of his bones as sacred relics to the 
different kings of the East. The prince of 
Guzerat resolved that his relic should last while 



24 



THE DIOTUM OF REASON 



time endured. He inclosed it in a bottle of 
gold, and that in a casket of silver, and that 
in a vessel of copper, and that in a bowl of 
baked clay, and that in a hollow square of 
sandstone, and that in a pyramid of brick 80 
feet high with a base of 80 feet. Finally he 
enclosed the entire structure with huge stone 
blocks. Well what of it? The Prince has 
gone, his dynasty has ceased and his domain 
is now a jungle. Fourteen years ago a British 
archaeologist found this strange tomb, and 
opened it up section by section, and found the 
bone uncalcined, and the gold bottle as bright 
as ever; though fifteen hundred years had 
come and gone. Why did this man build thus? 
To express his faith. He believed that 
Buddha was to be a forever-power, and he 
tried to build a forever-building. The Egypt- 
ians like this man had a faith to express, and 
they expressed it. They believed man to be 
a forever-creature, and so as his monument 
they built the forever-pyramid. Into that 
pyramid they put an embalmed body, and into 
the hand of the embalmed body they put a corn 



ON MAWS IMMORTALITY 25 

of wheat — the symbol of an endless life. Christ 
used a corn of wheat as the emblem of the 
power of such a life. 

What a hold the doctrine of man's immor- 
tality had upon Egypt the great world-power 
of ancient days ! And the doctrine was the 
pure evolution of Reason. Reason made it 
the active faith of Egypt, and through Egypt 
the active faith of whole races of men. 

(2). I have said that Reason also has put 
the doctrine of Man's Immortality into the 
Master-minds of the ages as a vital principle. 

Is this true? If true, it is a most important 
fact. If true, it gives the doctrine a powerful 
leverage, for men everywhere are influenced 
by master-minds. We let these master-minds 
do our thinking for us. We let them shape 
our faith. They are our authorities. They 
lead and we follow. They rule among men. 

Is this true? If you would know whether 
it be true or not, call the roll of the great in- 
tellects outside of the Book. 

The Master-minds of the Roman world res- 
pond to your roll-call. Epictetus responds. By 



28 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

his inherent greatness he rose from a slave to 
a philosopher and he still commands a hearing. 
I have his works in my library . He gave ut- 
terance to this dictum : — 

"Every man carries about in him a god." 

Marcus Aurelius responds, and so does 
Scipio Africanus. The one, Marcus Aurelius, 
was a great emperor and philospher, and the 
other, Africanus, was the man who conquered 
Hannibal. His daughter was the mother of the 
Gracchi. His soul was a globe of intense white 
fire. He was pure. And he was made and kept 
pure by his faith in himself as a creature of 
eternity. Cicero responds. He was Rome's 
great lawyer and first citizen. He had the vis- 
ion splendid. These were his words : — 

"There is in the minds of men a certain pre- 
sage of a future existence, and this takes the 
deeper root, and is most discoverable in the 
greatest geniuses, and most exalted souls." 

Through the power of this magnificent faith 
Cicero lived a peerless life, and died a most 
couragous death. The executioner sent by 
Antony found him walking in his garden, and 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 27 

said to him : "Cicero you have been sentenced 
to die." Calmly he said "If it be right for me 
to die let me die." And the next moment the 
greatest Roman was headless. He died despis- 
ing death. 

The master-minds of Greece respond to 
your roll-call. And what a shining list we 
have here! 

Democrites, who said "The soul is the house 
of God." And Pericles, who gave his name 
to the Golden Age of Athens. And Pindar 
the fore-runner of Plato. And Pythagorus, 
and Sophocles, and Aeschulus, and Homer, 
and Socrates, and Plato: each one a shining 
splendor, and all taken together a glorious 
cloud of witnesses resplendant with mentality 
and morality and spiritual ideals. Reason 
may be proud of these men. 

But we have not seen the full influence of 
the Dictum of Reason in this item of Man's 
Immortality. One point remains to be noticed 
and that is this : 

(3) It has created the finest literature of 
the world. 



28 TEE DICTUM OF REASON 

The world's master-pieces are the witnesses 
here. Call the roll of writers: call the roll of 
books, and see! In response we have 

"The Writings of Cicero." 

There are his matchless orations delivered 
in the Roman Senate during the trial of the 
Cataline conspirators. This was a scene which 
took place sixty years before the birth of 
Christ. Here, in the Roman Senate, Cicero 
showed the power of the doctrine of immor- 
tality as a force generating patriotism, and 
making national heroes. It was in an oration 
delivered at this time that he gave utterance 
to these words : 

"No one ever encountered death for his 
country, but under a firm conviction of the life 
beyond the grave." i. e., the martyr for his 
country is the man who sees before him the 
eternal reward which God bestows upon 
fidelity. 

But Cicero's best and bravest words on im- 
mortality were those written upon the death 
of his daughter Tullia. This was the greatest 
loss of his life. She was the idol of his heart. 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 29 

He wrote with a classic pen dipped in tears. He 
retired from public life to his Tusculum villa, 
and buried himself in his books. He com- 
muned with Socrates, and read Plato, and 
talked to his own heart; and then wrote his 
argument for the immortal life It was then 
that he wrote that famous sentence of his : 

"Man's grand ideals are overtures of immor- 
tality, because they require and demand im- 
mortality for their realization. " 

In response to our roll-call of books we 
have 

The Writings of Homer. 

All the world knows of his Odyssey and 
Iliad. They are classics. They are shot 
through and through with the doctrine of the 
future life: just as the glory-cloud in the sky 
is shot through and through with the bright 
sun-ray. Here is where we read of the Ely- 
sian Fields. 

In response to our roll-call we have 

The Writings of Sophocles, which are read 
in our universities to-day 

In response to our roll-call we have 



30 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

The Dionysius Cult with its far-famed lit- 
erature. 

This Cult was based on the doctrine of 
Man's Immortality, it was the Greek Refor- 
mation. It carried it in the coming Platonic 
arguments for the future life of the soul, argu- 
ments afterwards presented in Plato's 
Phaedrus, The Republic, and The Phaedo. 

It is in the literature of this Greek Reforma- 
tion that we are told of the cycles of re-incar- 
nation, and the circuits of births, possible to 
the soul ; each birth, each incarnation working 
its purification, and lifting it higher and higher 
in the scale of life, until it is forever freed from 
all sin and consequently from all sorrow. This 
Reformation relieved the doctrine of immor- 
tality, as held by the ancients, from much that 
was crude and gross. It gave men a better 
eternity. It made known to them 'The Islands 
of the Blest ,, with their water of life, and their 
golden flowers, and their trees of splendor, 



*A clear presentation of this cult may be found 
in the little book of Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Presi- 
dent of the University of California. This book con- 
tains the Ingersoll Lectures '98, delivered at Harvard. 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 31 

and their tonic breezes mingled with the de- 
lightful incense from the altars of God. Here 
men found perpetual joy and rest. All this 
reminds one of the Apocalypse of John the 
Disciple of Love But this literature antedated 
John's Apocalypse by long centuries. It was 
the product of Reason deduced from and based 
upon the Nature of Things. 

The following is a specimen of that far-back 
Greek thought : 

In answer to the roll-call of books we have 

The Writings of Plato. 

These are the writings which Augustine 
praised. There was no pen in all Greece 
more gifted than his. In Plato we have the 



♦The following is a specimen of that far-back Greek 
thought : 

"Let us hasten — let us fly — 

Where the lovely meadows lie ; 
Where the living waters flow : 

Where the roses bloom and blow. 
Heirs of immortality. 

Segregated, safe and pure, 
Easy, sorrowless, secure ; 

Since our earthly course is run, 
We behold a brighter sun. 

Holy lives — a holy vow — 
Such rewards await them now." 

Aristophanes (Frere's Translation), 



32 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

final outcome of all Greek culture. He was 
without a rival among the ancients. He was 
fullest in his treatment of immortality. 

It is through Plato's pen that Socrates, the 
profound thinker of Athens, finds his way in- 
to history, and gets a hearing in the world. 
Like Jesus, Socrates wrote nothing: John 
wrote for Jesus. Plato wrote for Socrates. 
Plato was his pupil and successor. He inher- 
ited his thought and faith. He was Socrates* 
pen. He was Socrates' voice. He was Socra- 
tes' exponent. He found his rest, and his in- 
spiration, and his life in Socrates. And be 
assured, Socrates does not suffer from Plato. 
Socrates Platonized loses nothing. Nay, the 
genius of Plato is an added light to the light 
of Socrates. 

This is Plato's method. He sets forth man's 
immortality through a man: i. e., — through the 
great man Socrates. This is keen. This is 
effective. This awakens sympathy. This 
calls out love. This creates a fit atmos- 
phere for his subject. Now atmosphere 
is everything. This is the method adopted 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 33 

by the old Testament. The future life 
there is centered in persons. It is cen- 
tered in Enoch, who walked with God. One 
day in taking a walk with God, he walked out 
of time into eternity: he walked from earth 
all the way to heaven. It is centered in Elijah. 
After interesting us in Elijah's life-work, and 
securing for the prophet a place in our admira- 
tion and in our heart, the Old Testament al- 
lows us to see him ride in the chariot of fire out 
of sight, upward ; to the palace of Jehovah the 
King of Israel. 

This is the method adopted by the New 
Testament. John adopts it: Paul adopts it: 
They both set forth man's immortality by 
means of a man, i. e., by means of the Man 
Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus creates the atmos- 
phere in which Immortality is best seen. 

Plato's setting of Socrates is fine. He sets 
him forth as the greatest Athenian that ever 
lived. His was an inspirational nature. He 
was a man who lived his whole life under the 
sense of a divine call. In this regard he was 
like one of the old Hebrew Prophets. For 



34 TEE DICTUM OF REASON 

more than seventy years he followed the divine 
calling, and served his age. He lived for God, 
and in this way he lived for mankind. His 
realization of his divine call made him a martyr 
for the truth. 

I can believe in such a man. I can believe 
a man who can die for the truth. His thoughts 
and his conclusions have weight with me. Plato 
knows this, hence he uses Socrates. Hence 
he builds his doctrine into the man and the 
man into his doctrine. He personalizes the 
truth. He dramatizes the truth. He vitalizes 
the truth. This is his art, and it makes his 
writing a veritable master-piece in literature. 

The question was asked: — "How did Socra- 
tes die?" Plato answered: — "He met his 
death as one who believed that he possessed 
a glorious immortality. ,, This made him brave 
and fearless in meeting death. This made him 
forgiving. He died forgiving his enemies and 
he did this unasked, and of his own free-will. 
He died a triumphant death. To show how 
complete his victory over death was, Plato tells 
the story of his trial, and his majestic bearing 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 35 

toward his judges who sentenced him to death. 
He talked to his judges as though they had 
need to be consoled, and not he. Why did he 
talk thus? Because he was swayed by his 
vision of the future life he was about to enter. 
"Wherefore, O my judges, be of good cheer 
about death: and know of a certainty that no 
evil can happen to a good man in life or after 
death. What good can be greater than to 
go to the fellowship of the good? What 
would not a man give if he might converse 
with Orpheus and Musoeus and Hesiod and 
Homer? What infinite pleasure to converse 
with them and ask them questions? If death 
be of such a nature ; I say that to die is gain. 
If this be true, let me die again and again." 
Such were the words of Socrates. On his last 
day on earth his friends gathered at sunrise in- 
to his prison, and he spent the whole day dis- 
cussing this great question "Is man Im- 
mortal?" He alone of all the company was 
perfectly composed. He alone was full of a 
holy calm. 

Said one of his friends: — "Socrates, surely 



36 THE DICTUM OF REASON 

you do not mean to leave us and keep to your- 
self this belief which makes you so happy in 
the hour of death ? You will share it with us ?" 
It was in answer to this request that he poured 
forth his soul on the greatest of all themes ; and 
by reason, and by analogy, and by tradition, 
and by argument, and by the Nature of Things 
confirmed the fact of a future life. His clos- 
ing words in this discussion were these : — 

"Those pre-eminent for holiness go to their 
pure home above, and live henceforth in man- 
sions which may not be described, and of which 
time would fail to tell. Wherefore perceiving 
all these things, what ought not we to do that 
we may obtain virtue and wisdom in this life. 
Fair is the prize : and the hope is great." 

After that he leisurely bathed, and then 
without a tremor, drank the fatal cup of hem- 
lock. , 

There is nothing in all writing, ancient or 
modern, like this scene in the death-chamber 
of Socrates depicted by the masterly pen of 
Plato: except the scene in the Sacramental 
Room of Jerusalem on the occasion of the 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 37 

going out from this earthly life of Jesus of 
Nazareth. 

Socrates' death was a victory : and it was a 
victory won by his faith in the doctrine of 
Man's Immortality. It was a grand crossing 
of The Bar. For he as well as Tennyson could 
say 

"Sunset and evening-star, 

And one clear call for me: 
And may there be no moaning of the bar 

When I put out to sea. 
But such a tide, as moving seems asleep: 

Too full for sound or foam 
When that which drew from out the boundless 
deep, 

Turns again home. 
"Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark : 
And may there be no sadness of farewell 

When I embark: 
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and 
Place 



38 TEE DICTUM OF REASON 

The flood may bear me far : 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face, 
When I have crossed the bar." 

In arresting our thought at this point, I have 
but one thing to say, and that is this: From 
the teaching of Reason on Immortality, we 
can come back to the teaching of Revelation 
with a new faith and confidence. 

The teaching of Revelation is seen to be 
more and more in harmony with The Nature 
of Things, and in accordance with our needs. 
We can take more stock in the Celestial City : 
and count more upon the hidden Manna, and 
the white stone, and the radiant apparel, and 
the new Name, and the crown of life, and the 
seat with God upon His Eternal Throne. 

O man, hide this hope of Immortality, which 
both Reason and Revelation bring you, down 
deep in your heart, and it will sing inspiring 
and sustaining songs to you all along the way, 
of your earthly pilgrimage. 

There is an old and beautiful legend in 
Spanish lore, concerning the Convent of St. 



ON MAN'S IMMORTALITY 39 

Benedict the home of a holy sisterhood. 
"When the Moors over-ran Spain, they vowed 
its destruction. But just when they made 
their assault the Convent disappeared. Clois- 
ters, cells, chapel, belfry, with the inmates, 
sank underground. Forty years after, a lone 
traveller, journeying through the forest at 
eventide, heard the mysterious echoes of ves- 
per-bells, and voices floating on the still even- 
ing-air as they breathed forth the praise of 
even-song. Nothing was seen but the tip of 
a moss-grown pinacle with a broken cross on 
it. Yet the harmonies from that buried Con- 
vent thrilled the traveller's heart with wonder 
and awe. Ethereal, mystic, heavenly: — they 
broke upon the ear like the echoes of another 
world." Such is the hope of immortality, 
when it is down deep in the heart of a man. 
It is the buried power of God there: and a3 
such it will keep ringing for you all the Bells 
of Heaven and will fill your life with the 
charm, and the cheer, and the music of Eter- 
nitv. 



II 

DIVINE VOICES 
OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE. 



41 



SYLLABUS. 

The Method which Reason follows in dealing with 
our subject: the Arguments which it constructs for 
Immortality : and the Duty which it inculcates de- 
ducted frcni the fact of Man's Immortality. 



42 



II 



DIVINE VOICES OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 

^%C ET us carry with us the facts and con- 

Jllj elusions which we have reached in our 

First Study. 

I. We have ascertained that Reason has a 

right to be heard on all subjects pertaining to 

religion. God is our authority for this. He 

appeals to reason : — "Come now and let us 

reason together, saith the Lord." Reason in 

its original qualities is divine, and it has been 

assigned by the Creator to the headship over 

human life. 

Reason deals with the Nature of things, and 

finds out what is in accordance with that. The 

Nature of things is equal in value to an axiom. 

An axiom is a finality. When Reason utters 

43 



44 DIVINE VOICES 

axioms: its dictum is the voice of God. 
Axioms are good things upon which to build 
one's faith and one's life. More than two thou- 
sand years ago Aristotle wrote: — 

"They who forsake the Nature of things, or 
axiomatic first truths will not and cannot find 
anything surer on which to build." 

Many of the facts of our religion are found 
outside of the lids of the Bible, as well as in- 
side of the lids of the Bible : and it is the prov- 
ince of Reason to work upon the facts outside. 
There is a Book of Reason, as well as a Book 
of Revelation, and it also is a Book of God. 

2. We have ascertained that Reason has 
worked upon the fact of Man's Immortality 
and has issued an affirmative dictum there- 
upon. This dictum has had a mighty influence 
among men. It has told in three remarkable 
ways. 

(a.) It has made the immortality of man the 
active faith of the leading races and nations. 

(b.) It has put it into the Master-minds of 
all ages as a vital principle. 

(c.) It has created the finest literature of 
the world. 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 45 

From the teaching of Reason, and from its 
grand influence in the human world, we come 
back to the teaching of Revelation on Man's 
Immortality with a new faith and an increased 
confidence. On this great fact, Reason and 
Revelation agree. Reason confirms Revela- 
tion : and Revelation supplements Reason. 
Revelation takes the fact of Man's Immor- 
tality, which Reason establishes, and fills it up 
with the grand things of God, and thus gives 
it a glorious transfiguration. 

So much by way of resume. Let us proceed 
now to the purpose of this present study. 
It is the function of this study to set forth — 
The method which Reason follows in deal- 
ing with our subject: the arguments which it 
constructs for immortality : and the duty which 
it inculcates as growing out of the fact of 
Man's Immortality. 

Following this plan as a guide to our 
thought, we start by asking Reason 

i. What method do you follow in dealing 
with Man's Immortality? 

Reason replies, my method is twofold. 



46 DIVINE VOICES 

(a.) I trust and employ all of the Sciences. 
I listen to them all, and base my faith on the 
sum-total of the teaching of them all. 

(b.) I accept and hold the best working 
hypothesis relative to man and his life. 

My fellowmen, what think you of this 
method of Reason in dealing with Man's Im- 
mortality? To me it looks fair. It wins me. 
It inspires me with confidence. It creates in 
•me the assurance that Reason will reach right 
conclusions. If Reason follows this method, I 
am willing to follow reason. Let us look at 
the method ! 

Reason says — I listen to all of the sciences, 
and base my faith on the sum-total of the teach- 
ings of all. , 

The Sciences are God's agents for the in- 
vestigation of the things and forces in the uni- 
verse. They analyze God, and Man, and 
Nature. They question these. They collate 
the facts which their questions elicit, and draw 
deductions from these collated facts. Then 
they practicalize their deductions : i. e., out of 
their deductions they make a creed, and out 
their creed they make a life. 



OUTSIDE OF TEE BIBLE 47 

Let me say at this point that I am glad that 
Reason deals with Science : for Science has 
been the great source of fear here. Men have 
been afraid that Science, by the fearless way it 
pushes into the very heart of things, might 
make discoveries that would show immortality 
to be an utter impossibility: or, might find a 
logical theory that would explain man, with 
immortality left out. There has been a basis 
for this fear, but I think that it has passed a- 
way. It arose from the bigotry found among 
the Sciences. The Sciences formerly were 
exclusive in dealing with one another: they 
were close-communionists : they were intoler- 
ant: they were over-bearing, unreasonable, 
combative and dogmatic. For example, Phy- 
sics would have nothing to do with Metaphy- 
sics : just as in medicine, Allopathy would have 
nothing to do with Homeopathy. It fought 
it. It abused it. It slandered it. This is not 
the way things should be between these two 
schools of medicine. The one should help the 
other. For the good of mankind they should 
interchange remedies and exchange experien- 



48 DIVINE VOICES 

ces; and give a united and multiplied benefit. 
Formerly the Sciences were bigoted and ex- 
clusive. They acted independently. Each 
one acted as though it knew everything: and it 
put forth its ipse dixit as though it were the 
only authority. As each Science covers only 
a part of man, you can see that the dictum of 
no one Science can be conclusive. You can 
see too that the Dictum of but one Science, 
based upon a partial knowledge, might easily 
be against immortality. 

For illustration, the Science of Chemistry 
once analyzed man and gave the world this 
teaching: — "There can be no thought without 
brain, and there can be no brain without phos- 
phorous ; therefore, phosphorous is thought." 
"No thought without phosphorous I" How 
that aphorism ran through the world! And 
isome worthy people felt that somehow it was 
all over with man's immortal soul. "With 
phosphorous you light your candle : with phos- 
phorous you discover Neptune: and with 
phosphorous you write the Fifth Symphony." 
How all embracing this is ! How charmingly 



OUTSIDE OF TEE BIBLE 49 

simple the Science of Chemistry has made 
things ! If Chemistry had been the only Sci- 
ence in existence, man would have been writ- 
ten down as mere organized matter culminat- 
ing in phosphorous. But there was another 
Science in the world, the Science of Psychol- 
ogy, and it came to Chemistry and said, 
"While you declare man to be organized mat- 
ter, you leave out the organizer, whoorganizes 
matter into man. When a man dies his brain 
is where it always was, and the phosphorous 
is there too: but there is no thought there. 
Why? Because the thinker has left the body. 
Brain and phosphorous are only instruments 
for the expression of thought. The soul is the 
thinker. The soul is the Harper, it is not the 
music; it makes the music. You can have all 
the chemical properties that go to make a man, 
and you can hold these in your hands, and yet 
not have a man." When we listen to these two 
sciences talk, Psychology and Chemistry, we 
feel that Psychology is right and that Chem- 
istry is wrong. 

A famous scientific lecturer being desirous 



50 DIVIDE VOICES 

to answer the question, "What is man ?" took 
his retort, and reduced a human body by chemi- 
icl analysis to its component parts. He then 
presented to his audience twenty-three pounds 
of carbon, two pounds of lime, twenty-two 
ounces of phosphorus, about one ounce each 
of sodium, iron, potassium, magnesium and 
silicon, and apologized for not exhibiting 
some five thousand cubic feet of oxygen and 
one hundred thousand cubic feet of hydrogen 
and fifty-two cubic feet of nitrogen. Suppose 
he could have presented all of these, that 
would not have been man. You can kill a 
man, but you cannot kill twenty-three pounds 
of carbon, etc., etc. Twenty-three pounds of 
carbon, etc., etc., cannot think, and sing, and 
love and worship and talk about eternity and 
a glorious immortality as we men and women 
do when we gather into the temple of God. 
When the science of Chemistry gives to the 
world as its final dictum, "No thought with- 
out phosphorous," Psychology comes to it and 
says : "Chemistry, I am as much of a science 
as you are, and I go away beyond you in my 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 51 

investigation of man, and I say that your dic- 
tum: is nothing more than a bit of fallacious 
rhetoric. My dictum is: No thought without 
the soul of man, and the soul of man is like 
God. It is a child of the Infinite.'' 

The method of Reason is to listen to all of 
the sciences. Reason says to itself: "No sci- 
ence is specific, or self-sufficient. All sciences 
are related. The one leads to the other. The 
one takes up the work of investigation where 
the other lays it down. Recognizing this, I 
compel each science to acknowledge its limita- 
tions. I prohibit it from building theories for 
me upon negations, or upon what it cannot 
find, or upon what it does not know. What it 
does not know, I compel it to refer to some 
other science which does know. I stamp out 
of existence the bigotry between the sciences, 
and form a union and a comity among them 
for comparing notes, and giving results, and 
making an interchange, and thereby coming 
to combined conclusions. I compel the sci- 
ences to question one another and to help one 
another. I compel one science to lead me to 



52 DIVINE VOICES 

another in my study of man. Chemisty leads 
me to Biology, and Biology leads me to Soci- 
ology, and Sociology leads me to History, and 
History leads me to Religion. History is a 
science. Religion is a science. I find that one 
science is not sufficient. It is fractional and 
its conclusions are fractional. I want and I 
demand the complete, for the complete only 
is satisfactory. Now, I can reach the com- 
plete only by means of and through the study 
of all. 

My fellowmen, I do not know how it seems 
to you, but it seems to me that Reason need 
have no fear to put itself into the hands of the 
sciences, as the sciences are now confederated, 
and as they now supplement one another's 
teachings and confirm one another's conclu- 
sions. I find from the study of the works and 
writings of such men as Huxley, and Tyndal, 
and Romanes, and John Fiske, and Prof. 
James, and John Stuart Mill, and Prof. Royce, 
and Dr. Stockwell, and Prof. Shaler that the 
sciences demonstrate that there is no proof that 
Death ends all. The denials of immortality 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 53 

lose their force under scientific inspection. 
The sciences clear the ground of objections, 
and open the way for the fearless affirmation 
of Man's Immortality. I find that the. sciences 
prepare a large and hospitable place in the 
dominion of thought for an out-and-out faith 
in man as a creature of the forever. The fact 
that the majority of these noted scientific au- 
thorities, whom I have just mentioned, believe 
in the immortality of the soul, shows that the 
sciences are in favor of the faith. 

This fact leads us to expect that which we 
shall by and by see, viz : That Reason has am- 
ple material in the sphere of the sciences out of 
which to construct arguments confirming the 
doctrine of Man's Immortality. I can say, in 
advance, before I listen to the arguments of 
Reason, that my scientific self, i.e., self as sci- 
ence makes me out, and my reasoning self, 
i.e., self as reason makes me out, and my Bible 
self, i.e., self as the Bible makes me out, are all 
one and the same self, viz., my immortal self. 
The sciences are beginning to soar with the 
Seraphs and to sing with the glorified spirits. 



54 DIVINE VOICES 

They have actually become the prophets of 
faith. 

A word with regard to the other method 
followed by Reason. Reason says, in dealing 
with the subject of immortality, I accept and 
hold the best working hypothesis relative to 
man and the life of man. This is scientific. 
This is common sense. Reason asks, "Is the 
doctrine of man's immortality workable ; does 
it make the best of men, and does it produce 
the best life? If so, then I accept of it." Upon 
investigation, Reason finds that it does pro-* 
duce the best of men and the best of life and 
that it is the best working hypothesis. Where 
the doctrine does not prevail man is held 
cheap, and human life is a drug in the market, 
and vice obtains. There men have no higher 
nature. They live by their lower nature. They 
go rioting through life. But where it is recog- 
nized and believed and acted upon, there it 
makes Greece and Rome and Egypt, the lead- 
ing nations of the world; and produces such 
men as Cicero, and Marcus Aurelius, and Soc- 
rates, and Plato, the great men of the world. 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 55 

Reason says "I accept it because as a working 
hypothesis it makes the controlling civilization 
of mankind and it produces the master-minds 
of mankind. , 

We are now face to face with the 

2. Arguments for Man's Immortality, as 

constructed by Reason. 
Reason's first argument is 

(a) The argument wrapped up in the sci- 
entific doctrine of the Law of the 
Conservation of forces. 

Science teaches that Nature never allows a 
single force to go out of existence. It con- 
serves its forces. 

For example, the pile-driver brings down 
its great hammer upon the pile, which it drives 
by force into the ground to make a firm foun- 
dation for the massive temple about to be built. 
Does the force which it puts into each blow go 
out of existence after the blow is struck? No. 
It goes into the pile driven into the ground, 
and it stays there, and it works there, in hold- 
ing it in its place. It is there, and it is opera^ 



56 DIVINE VOICES 

tive in the strength of the firm foundation 
which supports the massive temple. 

For example, the Apostles of Jesus, and the 
early witnesses of Christianity put the strength 
of their testimony and of their faith into or- 
ganizing and confirming the Christian relig- 
ion. Has that strength of theirs gone out of 
existence? It has not. It is in the Christian 
religion still, and it helps to keep it confirmed. 
We believe, in part, with their faith. Their 
faith makes us strong. The strength of their 
faith is indestructible, for no force ever goes 
out of existence. Now grant this scientific 
fact, which is wrapped up in the Law of Con- 
servation of forces, and the logic of Reason is 
rapid, and its conclusion is reached at a single 
jump. This is the logic : My personality, my 
identity, is a force, therefore, my personality 
can never be lost ; it must and it does exist 
forever. Dr. McCosh says on this line, "If 
mind is extinguished on the dissolution of the 
body, it is the only force known to us as being 
absolutely annihilated. ,, 

Reason's second argument is, 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 57 

(b) The argument of possibility. 

The argument of possibility is just this : 
There is the power requisite. The argument 
•of possibility is founded upon the facts and 
the powers and the processes found in Nature. 
There are facts and wonders here equal to, and 
beyond, the fact of immortality. There are 
processes and powers here which could, if 
they were called into requisition, continue man 
forever. Let us see some of these. 

Creation is a fact. It is a wonder also. So 
great a wonder is it, and requiring so much, 
that given the Power that created, and nothing 
is impossible. The power that brought man 
into being can continue man in being. Worlds 
in space ! Systems ! Constellations ! The vast 
universe! Creation stands for these gigantics 
and these immensities. If this be so, then the 
Power that made these is more than an equa- 
tion for immortality. Again: 

See the power which Nature has to preserve 
the body under certain circumstances! An 
illustrative story will be in point here. More 
than thirty-five years ago a young English- 



58 DIVINE VOICES 

man, thirty-five years of age, was ascending 
Mount Blanc, in company with five Swiss, by 
what is known as the Ancion Passage. It was 
a very steep slope of snow, that stretched up- 
ward above them toward the Grand Plateau. 
A sudden avalanche overwhelmed them. Two 
escaped, and the bodies of two others were 
found, but the body of the young Englishman 
was hurled deep into the mass of snow. 
The guides, who knew the mountains, said 
that in thirty or forty years it would emerge 
from the glacier at the base four miles below. 
Last year, one bright summer afternoon, a 
visitor was wending his way across the foot of 
this same glacier, when he came across a little 
group of people bending over an object by the 
glacier's side. The object of interest was the 
form of a young man, with all the freshness 
of youth imprinted upon his lifeless features; 
even the clothing which he wore was scarcely 
disarranged. Yet for thirty-five years the 
snows of the Alps had kept their vigil over his 
form, and the glacier had held him in its iron 
grip. But death had brought with it eternal 



OUT 8 IDE OF THE BIBLE 59 

youth. Suddenly another inquirer was added 
to the little band, in the person of an old, 
white-haired lady, of some sixty-eight years of 
age, who stayed in the village below. Recog- 
nizing the body, she tenderly bent over it and 
wept uncontrollably and passionately. The 
others said, "It is his mother." It was not his 
mother. It was she who thirty-five years ago 
was his young wife. Now she was bent and 
old and white-headed. Two lovers had been 
parted by that mountain disaster. One had 
lived to grow old ; the other had died young, to 
retain in death the freshness of perpetual 
youth. And this is a parable of what death 
really brings about. We who remain are in 
the land of the dying, while they who have 
gone, live in the "second state sublime. " Na- 
ture has the power to keep us in eternal fresh- 
ness, if she will only use that power. The 
question of possibility is just no question at 
all with the Powers in whose hands we are. 
Once more : 

Reason observes what takes place in Nature 
when the great miracle of Spring is wrought, 



60 DIVINE VOICES 

and here Reason sees again a power for re- 
newal that can work an immortality for man. 

The tree that one month ago was barren- 
ness in itself, that threw into the air cold, black, 
dead-like branches, is now a sheeted-bloom of 
dazzling white. It seems clothed in a celestial 
robe like that worn by the bride of the Apoca- 
lypse. It stands forth a very miracle of beauty. 
This miracle of beauty which holds man spell- 
bound is the result of a renewed life given to 
the tree by the return of Spring. Nature on a 
beautiful Spring day is certainly Nature in an 
immortality mood, and it preaches the Gospel 
of eternal life. It confirms and illustrates the 
argument of possibility. 

But I hear Reason say : Not only can the 
powers of Nature continue life ; they can do 
more — they can advance life from a lower 
grade to a higher grade ; they can transfigure 
life ; not only can they give man an immortali- 
ty, but they can fill his immortality with glory. 

Listen to Reason as it speaks. It says, I 
have watched the crawling grub and I have 
seen it rise from repulsiveness to attractive 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 61 

splendor. Under the change which Nature 
has worked in it, I have seen it throw off its 
lower life, with the ways thereof, and put on 
the higher life, with its ways. I have seen it 
receive new and undreamed-of gifts and pow- 
ers and become so changed that no one look- 
ing at it flashing and sparkling m the sunshine, 
and sweeping across the heavens, would ever 
imagine how low down it once was in the scale 
of life. In Nature there is such a thing as the 
passage from one life to another. 

Reason says, "I have seen Nature also work 
upon dead matter and beautify it. I have seen 
it take the black, soiled and soiling charcoal 
and change it into the priceless diamond, 
every facet of which flashed splendors and 
many-hued fires, which thrilled and delighted. 
From these powers at work in Nature, I con- 
struct the argument of possibility. The pow- 
ers of Nature which have produced man and 
which are everywhere at work, can make man 
gloriously immortal, if that be the decree of 
the Ruling Will. 

Nature's third argument is, 



62 DIVIDE VOICES 

(c) The argument of instinct. 
Instinctively, men hope for immortality and 
long for it. Even the savage, out of these 
hopes and longings — the products of instinct 
— constructs his happy hunting grounds be- 
yond. And Reason says this is right. Reason 
says, "Instinct in man is just as reliable as in- 
stinct in birds is. The robin follows instinct, 
and at this Springtime of the year comes 
North, and what greets him when he comes 
NoFih? That which appealed to his instinct 
and drew him North. That which you see 
around you: The Spring season, with its 
opening leaves and its fresh flowers. Search 
the universe and you will discover that Instinct 
never plays false with anything that follows it. 
Shall it play false with man? Instinct tells us 
the truth. Desire is its own apologetic. 
Emerson in his last Essay, which was on the 
subject of Immortality, says, "Instincts and 
automatic forces in man are God's book of di- 
rections. Aspirations are liens upon immortal 
life, and they are stepping-stones, that slope 
through the darkness up to God. The plant- 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 63 

ing of a desire indicates that the gratification 
of that desire is in the constitution of the crea- 
ture that feels it. It is there structurally. The 
creator keeps his word with everything and 
everybody. " Agassiz, after surveying the 
whole world, gives this as his scientific conclu- 
sion: "Our hopes are God's written guaran- 
tees of immortality." Now, remember that 
this is science as well as religion. 

Owen, the naturalist, finds a fossil five hun- 
dred feet underground. He says the animal 
lived on the surface of the earth. How does he 
know? Why, there are sockets for the eye. 
Nature makes nothing in vain; therefore, it 
must have lived where the light was. The 
world says, "That is logic." Now, in man we 
find a yearning, a desire, a hope for immortali- 
ty. Can you believe that God who made light 
and beauty for the eye has forgotten the soul? 
The old heathen, Cato, with nothing but the 
light of Nature to guide him, answers this 
question. He says : 
It must be so Plato, thou reasonest well, 
Else whence this pleasing hope? This fond 
desire ? 



64 DIVIDE VOICES 

This longing after immortality? 

Or whence this secret dread and inward horror 

Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul 

Back on herself and startles at destruction ? 

Tis the Divinity that stirs within us ; 

Tis heaven itself pointing out an hereafter, 

And intimating eternity in man. 

"There is an old rabbinical legend, and it 
runs thus : — 

"When Joseph was Prime Minister to Pha- 
roah, during the period of the famine, he emp- 
tied the chaff of his granaries into the river 
Nile. It floated far away on the moving cur- 
rent, and the people on the banks at a great 
distance below saw it. It was only chaff, but 
it meant that there was corn in plenty some- 
where. Chaff always means corn ; yet chaff in 
itself is not considered as of much value. You 
could not persuade those people who saw the 
chaff, that they were mistaken in their conclu- 
sion that there was corn. They were suffer- 
ing the pangs of hunger and had supposed that 
the famine had extended throughout the entire 
country, and that everybody was as hungy as 



OUTSIDE OF TEE BIBLE 65 

themselves. When they saw the floating chaff 
they changed their minds. They were sure 
that if their strength held out, and that if they 
could only reach the point at which the chaff 
had been thrown into the river they would find 
plenty to nourish their life. Even so, adown 
the stream of time there come floating to our 
hearts certain dreams of bliss ; reunions with 
those we have loved and lost; the longing for 
rest, and a desire for a future life and holiness. 
The human race has enjoyed these hopes ever 
since it first began to struggle. They are the 
chaff, but the corn, which is higher up the 
stream in the granaries of God, w r ill be ours 
by and by." 

Reason's fourth argument is, 
4. (d) The intellectual argument. 

The purport of this argument is this : There 
must be no mental confusion. Things must be 
such as to satisfy the intellect of man, when 
man is at his best. 

For example, they must satisfy his sense of 
justice. The oily and attractive seducer, by 
fair speech, works the fall of virtue. He 



66 DIVIDE VOICES 

wrecks the life of the beautiful woman and 
then deserts her to the fate of an outcast. She 
dies a maniac. He dies a millionaire, and is 
buried with holy services and loud-sounding 
eulogium. Does that satisfy your sense of jus- 
tice? That man in this life has not received 
justice. There must be a life in which he shall. 
God's overrule must be vindicated. The ethi- 
cal demands eternity. This is the ethical argu- 
ment, and it is an argument drawn from Soci- 
ology. It is as Browning says : 

'Truly there needs another life to come ! 
If this be all — 

And other life await us not — for one, 
I say 'tis a poor cheat, a stupid bungle, 
A wretched failure. I, for one, protest 
Against it, and I hurl it back with scorn." 

For example, things must satisfy the crav- 
ing of man's love. There is the logic of love, 
and things must meet that. Now, things can- 
not meet that if there be no life beyond. Love 
announces itself as a forever thing. Love is a 

tLrfC. 



OUTSIDE OF TEE BIBLE 67 

thing of boundless capacity. Love hates Sad- 
duceeism. 

Love suffers from anything that hinders its 
expression, or that brings it to an end. To say 
nothing of our love, think of God's love! 
Does he love us? He says that he does. 
Now argue from this fact — God's love for us ! 
If this life be the end of all, then God inflicts 
sorrow upon himself by making it the end of 
all. It is as though a father should rear chil- 
dren till their love for him had bloomed into 
full sweetness, and then should bodily thrust 
them into graves to smother their loving words 
with eternal dust. 

It is related of an Arab chief, whose laws 
forbade his rearing his female offspring, that 
"the only tears he ever shed were those shed 
when his daughter brushed the dust from his 
beard as he buried her in a living grave." Do 
you think God is going to bring himself to 
tears and sin against his love ini a style like 
this Arab chief? To our thought, such con- 
duct is mental confusion. And so is any 



68 DIVIDE VOICES 

process or theory which would separate us 
eternally from those whom we love. 

For example, things must satisfy man's 
sense of the fitness of things, i. e., things must 
be reasonable. Let me illustrate here. Let 
me put before you an argumentative problem, 
and then ask you an argumentative question. 
The problem is the progress of the human 
race. The question is, How is this problem 
to be solved? 

'This world of ours was created. God filled it 
with beauty. God adapted it to life, and then 
life came. The waters were peopled, and the 
air was filled with wings and songs, and the 
kine fed on the brow of a thousand hills. By 
and by man came. He soon developed powers 
of thought, which made him king over all the 
world. He developed reason. He developed 
speech. He developed heart-power. He de- 
veloped spiritual faculties, until he dreamed 
of God and of another life, and called himself 
a child of God and lifted his soul in worship. 

Through ages this race of ours has prog- 
ressed, until there has come into existence all 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 69 

the intellectual development of books and the 
literature of the world until there has come 
all the forms of beauty developed by art ; un- 
til there has come the sound of son^s, that 
have made the world so sweet. In the course 
of time there came men like Moses, and Gua- 
tama, and Socrates. After that came Jesus 
Christ; then the great artists of Italy, and 
the great singers of Germany and England, 
and the great scientists, who taught us to 
know our dwelling-place and who are now 
beginning to teach us to know ourselves. All 
this development of human life — human 
thought, human feeling, human hope — has 
come until we stand, on the summit of this 
Holy Sabbath, looking toward the future, and 
thinking that almost everything is possible to 
mankind. This progress is going to continue 
until higher things are reached. Now the 
problem is, When these higher things are 
reached, what then? Can you believe that our 
race shall be plunged into an abyss and that 
all shall be dissolved, and like the baseless 
fabric of a vision^ leave not a wreck behind? 



70 DIVINE VOICES 

Does that satisfy anybody intellectually? To 
conceive such a stupendous scheme, and such 
long preparation, and such reaching through 
ages up to the highest, and then to say that 
the ultimatum is to be just nothing at all. That 
is intellectually monstrous. The difficulties 
of unbelief are insuperable. Such a destiny 
can be correlated to no possible conception of 
a reasonable God. We cannot believe that 
an unconscious power produced all that we 
see, and no more can we believe that a con- 
scious power would take all this trouble for 
nothing.'' No. Faith in immortality is an in- 
tellectual necessity. As Prof. John Fiske says, 
"I believe in the immortality of the soul as a 
supreme act of faith in the reasonableness of 
God's work." God is the premise, immortali- 
ty is the conclusion. 

Having built these far-reaching arguments 
for the demonstration and establishment of 
Man's Immortality, Reason concludes its 
treatment of this great subject : 

3. By inculcating upon man the duty of 
making immortality a practical force. 



OUT 8 IDE OF THE BIBLE 71 

It says to man, "Practice immortality. 
Since you are an Immortal, live as an Immor- 
tal. Seek the immortal things and deal in 
them." Does reason say this? It does. 
Through whom? Through its apostles: Pla- 
to is an apostle. Aristotle is an apostle. De- 
pending wholly on the light of Reason, not 
having a single page of Revelation, Aristotle, 
before the days of Jesus Christ, sent this mes- 
sage to his fellow men : 

"Live as nearly as you can the immortal 
life.' > That is, "Practice immortality." Make 
the great hereafter a glorious here. This is 
something like the saying of John, the bosom 
companion of the Master, "Let him that hath 
this hope in him purify himself." This is 
something like the saying of Paul, "Seeing 
then that we look for such things, what man- 
ner of persons ought we to be in all holy liv- 
ing and godliness, looking for and earnestly 
desiring the coming day of God, when we 
shall be clothed upon with our house, which is> 
from heaven." 



72 DIVINE VOICES 

My fellow men, Reason stands before us to- 
day, and this is its exhortation! 

O, ye immortal men, know this : That the 
truth which you believe and vitalize, will vi- 
talize you in return ; therefore, cherish this 
truth, that you are immortal, and let it vital- 
ize you. Toss it not into the rubbish-heap of 
the thoughts which you forget. Remember it 
and ponder it. Feed it by contemplation. 
If you are immortal, there is only one kind of 
life that is rational for you, and that is the life 
that is in league with light and is keyed to the 
eternal. Your heredity is from God. Live as 
the sons of God. Your divine nature is an 
infinite invitation to things that are divine. 
Enrich your life with great interests, devote 
it to the service of great ends ; spend it in the 
fellowship of great souls. See in it vaster 
meanings. Work it over into a new quality, 
and raise to a new power. Train your desires ; 
train your feelings; train your ambitions. 
Shun the low levels ; dwell in the high alti- 
tudes of lofty thinking. Be full-orbed person- 
alities. Have no anxiety as to the fact of your 



OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE 73 

immortality, for that is settled. But let your 
anxiety be that you build into yourselves the 
things that are worthy of your immortality, 
and the things you would like to see immor- 
tal, and the things that produce the heavenly 
mind, the things out of which you can build 
up the heaven-life: aptitudes, habits, thoughts, 
affections, volitions, passions, visions, songs, 
virtues, aspirations, influences, qualities, doc- 
trines, principles, graces, characteristics, at- 
tainments, associations, personalities, full- 
summed powers and destinies, the things that 
are meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
light. Let your anxiety be to have a white 
soul for the white robes, and a spirit of praise 
for the harps of gold, and a thoroughly loyal 
personality for the everlasting crown. 



JUN 12 1 



1 COPV DEL. To Cat n , v 
WN. 12 1902 

< 17 190? 

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